Concrete Angel
by nightlyroses
Summary: [Songfic] Isabella Potter (fem!Harry) never thought she would ever make a friend. She also never thought that making a friend would cost her her own life. WARNING: child abuse and child murder.
1. Concrete Angel

**AN:** So I decided that I didn't really like my first "Concrete Angel" songfic so I decided to try again with different characters and a slightly different storyline. If this falls under "rewriting names of characters/locations of one story in order to upload to multiple categories" or some other duplication rule, then I'll delete the first one. For now, I'll keep the first one for those of you who want to read it.

* * *

No one bothers to acknowledge the lonely redheaded girl with hazel eyes walking to school with a self-packed lunch for the first time. Her clothes are the same ones from yesterday: a faded white blouse and a frayed plaid dress from twenty years ago. She always has to wear long sleeves to cover the bruises, even in the summer. Her cousin shoves past her roughly with his usual sneer and cruel remarks. Attempting to ignore him, she observes her surroundings with eyes empty of emotion, stopping to look at boy with light brown hair and grey eyes being hugged by her neighbour Mrs Figg. The boy turns and looks back at her, offering her a small smile that she doesn't even try to return. He will learn to avoid a freak like her in a few hours.

Her teacher frowns when she notices one of her students subconsciously rubbing her shoulder as if she were in pain. Further observation shows said student pushing back her one of her sleeves to reveal purple and yellow bruises while wiping sweat off her scarred forehead. Before she can ask questions, the little girl replaces her brown headband on her forehead to cover the scar. Shrugging, she moves on to the next student, not knowing the level of emotional pain the poor girl was feeling.

During interval, the little girl sits behind some rubbish bins, trying to ignore the sounds of kids playing with new friends while screaming with laughter and having fun. Curling up into a ball, she prays to God and her dead parents to help her find an ally in this cold gruesome world. Her prayers are answered by the appearance of the boy she saw earlier. "Hi. I'm Tommy. What's your name?"

This boy already knows her name. Their parents had been best friends. Then her parents were killed by You-Know-Who, and his werewolf father was left behind by everyone. It is only because of his father and Arabella Figg that he's attending this school to keep an eye on her. He's supposed to keep under pretences by acting as if he never knew her before. He's supposed to be a new friend.

She doesn't look up at him when she answers. "Isabella."

He sits down beside her. "Hi, Isabella."

"Hello."

She is afraid, of course. No one ever is nice to her. A few in the past had been before Dudley scared them off or they discovered that she was a freak. It always ended the same way. So why shouldn't this boy be any different? "The others are playing over there. You should go."

"And leave you here all by yourself? No thanks."

She sighs. She might as well get over it. "My cousin Dudley will hurt you very badly if you don't go. Besides, you don't want to be friends with a freak like me."

He frowns as she winces and rubs her shoulder. "What happened to your shoulder?"

"Ran into a wall again. I have a lot of bad luck."

He had been watching her earlier during class. He saw her roll up her sleeve to expose her spotted arm. It confused him to no end. Was it common for kids raised by Muggles to have coloured arms? He would have to ask his daddy because it didn't seem like she would answer. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'm used to it."

And she is. She is used to her uncle's beatings. At least once a day he'll hit her in many different ways with the use of his fists, his feet, or objects. Words are also used. The word "freak" still rings in her ears even now. As for her aunt, she was denied any decent portions of food. Her cousin would get four times as much as she did, which was half of what each her aunt and uncle would eat. She was a very fragile skinny girl.

Dudley sees them come back to class together after interval ends and scowls. His weird cousin isn't supposed to have friends! He has to tell his mummy about what she did. And he does. The second he gets picked up and his mother asks, "How was school today, Pumpkin?", he answers, "Horrible. It was so hard, and stupid Isabella made a friend."

His mummy stiffens. "The freak made a friend? Your daddy won't be happy when he gets home."

* * *

That night at the Lupins, Remus Lupin observes his son quietly picking at his dinner. He sighs. Tommy had told him that Isabella seemed to have trust him and that they hit it off all right. But clearly he wasn't given all the details of today. "All right, son. Did something bad happen at school today?"

"Do Muggle-borns usually have different colours on their skin?" Tommy blurts out, his fork held midair.

Remus stares at his son, surprised by the odd question. "What do you mean by 'different colours on their skin,' Tommy?"

"I saw Isabella in class," Tommy says quietly. "One of her arms had purple and yellow spots on it. And she seemed like she was hurting on the shoulder."

Purple and yellow spots? Remus is alarmed. His son saw bruises on Isabella's arm. It seems to him that his goddaughter is being abused by her relatives. To be certain he asks, "How did she seem to be feeling, Tommy? Happy? Sad? Angry?"

"Sad," Tommy replies glumly. "She told me that I shouldn't be around her because her cousin would hurt me and because she was a freak. She was hiding behind garbage cans."

Remus abruptly gets up from the table and hurries into the living room. He needs to Floo Arabella Figg.

* * *

A scream breaks out in the middle of the night. Then another. Then another. The neighbours are prepared to call the cops until they realize it's the nutcase Isabella Potter from 4 Privet Drive. They go on to don earmuffs and go back to bed. If only they hadn't.

* * *

Five people are standing around a small grave in Godric's Hollow. An elderly woman is crying her eyes out, wishing that the neighbours would have let her call the police. A young woman stares silently, guilt radiating off her like body heat as she wishes that she had done something the moment she noticed something was off. A man in his mid-twenties but with scars and greying hair is letting the tears fall silently, knowing that he would never ever get to see his goddaughter again. A fat blond boy is traumatized into silence as he replays his cousin's final beating in his head over and over, wishing that he had been kinder to her or that he stopped it. And a boy with light brown hair and grey eyes is clinging to his father, crying for the girl that should be growing up with him until the end but isn't.

 **Isabella Lily Potter**

 **31 July 1980 – 2 September 1985**

 **Misunderstood, lonely, and**

 **Left to the cruelest part of the world**

 **This little angel shall rest in peace**

 **And watch over children like she**

Isabella stands beside the sobbing Tommy, wishing that she could comfort him and tell him that she was all right now. She isn't hurting anymore. She is going to be with her parents soon. Very soon. But she has to wait for something.

The small funeral breaks up that afternoon. The next morning, the graveyard is crowded with cloaked people with sticks. She easily picks out Mrs Figg, Tommy, and his father in the crowd as they were the only faces she recognized. A very old man gives a very sorrowful speech as he wishes that he thought up of something other than the blood wards to protect her since they clearly didn't save her from her relatives. A middle-aged bespectacled woman is crying as she wishes that she had protested harder against the child being placed with her horrible relatives. A giant of a man is howling as he wishes that he had let Cassiopeia Lupin née Black taken her as the recently-escaped convict would've at least give her a quick death. The others merely cry for the loss of their saviour.

 **Isabella Lily Potter**

 **31 July 1980 – 2 September 1985**

 **Beloved Daughter of**

 **Lily Jade Evans Potter**

 **And**

 **James Fleamont Potter**

 **Our suffering saviour**

 **Who finally is at peace**

 **With those she had lost**

 **But never should have**

Isabella moves through the crowd to reach Tommy and his father. She slowly wraps her arms around Tommy, who stiffens slightly. He knows she's there. She whispers, "You are strong, Tommy. Had I lived, we would've been best friends. I'll be waiting for you."

The crowd finally disperses. Her grave is overloaded with flowers. After everyone has left, she sits on top of her grave, waiting. Someone was coming for her. She knew it. But who?

A boy slowly materializes in front of her. He is the same age as her with blond hair, silver eyes, and a pointed chin. He is wearing black robes. He blinks once and holds out his hand. "Come."

She takes his hand, and he pulls her up. "What's your name?"

"Draco Malfoy."

"How are you here?"

"My father killed me in a drunken rage last month. He has been drinking ever since you killed the Dark Lord."

"The Dark what?"

"I'll explain later. Come with me to meet your parents."

He pulls her into a hug before they both shimmer and disappear. They reappear in the same graveyard except it isn't a graveyard. It's a garden. And waiting where Isabella's grave would be are a young woman with red hair and green eyes and a bespectacled young man with messy black hair and hazel eyes. Her parents.

"Isabella," the woman whispers, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Mummy," Isabella whispers back, staring back in wonder. "Daddy."

She is engulfed in two pairs of arms the second she runs to them, hands stroking her hair and words of love being spoken to her. She is finally with her parents again. And this time they aren't going to be ripped apart. Never again.

Meanwhile, a big bear-like dog runs into the graveyard in Godric's Hollow and stops in front of the newest grave. It transforms into a ragged-looking woman in grey robes who collapses to the ground while sobbing for the loss of her goddaughter.

* * *

 **AN:** Reviews are appreciated! Thanks in advance to those who do, and I'll answer any questions you have!


	2. Epilogue

**AN:** I just had to write a little epilogue on Tommy meeting Sally (fem!Ron) and his feelings on the aftermath of Isabella's death. Enjoy!

* * *

Six years have passed since the murder of Isabella Potter. The Wizarding World has, in a sense, gone back to normal but black decorations can be seen all around to honour the Girl Who Lived and Died. Yes, that's what they referred to her nowadays. Even though she had survived You-Know-Who's killing curse, she hadn't been able to survive the Muggle abuse she endured at the hands of her own relatives. Much to the magical population's dismay, the Dursleys had been sent to a Muggle prison instead of Azkaban with the dementors. The son, however, currently lives with a nice Muggle family in London.

One particular three-member family, however, had been hit hard with Isabella's death and still struggle daily to this day from the grief and sorrow they feel. On the bright side, Cassiopeia Lupin née Black had been cleared from the charges that landed her in Azkaban in the first place after she came to her husband and son the night after the funeral prepared to prove what really happened. A meeting with Amelia Bones and an actual trial was done, freeing the young woman from the madhouse permanently after nearly four years of imprisonment. On the downside, the absence of the Lupins' goddaughter/godsister's life in existence had brought a rather heavy toll on the entire family.

The Lupins' son Tommy had been five when Isabella had been murdered by her uncle, the same age as she. The two children had met on the first day of school where the little boy befriended the quiet and withdrawn redhead. Generally, people don't remember much from when they were five, but this event was just too much to forget. Even now, Tommy Lupin still lives in grief for the best friend and sister he could've had.

Today is his first day of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Being as it is, he's not exactly thrilled for opportunities to make friends since apparently Isabella's uncle had said the fact that she made a friend for the first time was too much for him. Putting it in that way implied that it was Tommy's fault Isabella died in the first place. It wasn't exactly something a child would ignore, even if his parents constantly told him otherwise.

The other painful part, of course, is the part that Isabella isn't here with him like she should be. To be honest, a lot of things should've happened to prevent a tragedy like that but didn't. As a result, Tommy Lupin is giving his parents good-byes and such, prolonging it as long as he can, before trudging onto the train to find an empty compartment where hopefully not too many people will bother him. He does find an empty compartment, but only a minute passes before the door quietly slides open to reveal a tall freckled girl with ginger-red hair pulled back in a ponytail. Tommy blinks as he waits for her to say something.

"Hi," her voice is quiet and with a slight rasp, "is it okay if I sit in here? All of the other compartments are full, and I kind of want to avoid my twin brothers."

Her expression is mostly blank, but he can just barely see the sadness in her blue eyes. He nods once, and relief washes over her face for a second as she drags her trunk into the compartment and heaves it onto the rack. Tommy doesn't really look at her as she takes the seat across from him. "Um, I'm Sally. Sally Weasley. Well, actually, it's Rosalie, but – no one really calls me that. Not that I want them to because that name just sounds so – so – ugh, I can't describe it. It's disgusting, I'll tell you."

Her face is slightly pink from embarrassment, but her word stumbling is enough for him to twitch his lips upwards. "I'm Tommy. Tommy Lupin."

She's still pink in the face so he adds. "Well, actually, it's Thomas but no one really calls me that. I don't like the reference to that Muggle tank engine in those children's stories, you see."

A snort escapes from her. "What it's call, 'Thomas the Tank Engine'?"

"Exactly. People kept making what they thought was funny train puns. Don't even try."

"Oh, _I_ definitely won't. Just don't tell that to my twin brothers or they'll have too much fun with those."

"All right, I won't."

A smile breaks out on her freckled face, and Tommy is strongly reminded of the first smile Isabella had given him when the first day of school had ended. Berating himself for mentally bringing up, he manages to force one in return. Perhaps making friends won't be so bad. "So what house do you want to be in?"

At that, her smile falters and her masked expression returns. "Oh, um, not sure. I really just know about Gryffindor because, um, my entire family has been in it. Um, what about you?"

He raises an eyebrow at her change in attitude but doesn't comment on it. "I really know mostly about Gryffindor. My mum's entire family has been Slytherin, though, but she doesn't talk much about it."

"Who's your mum?"

Now it's his turn to stutter. "Oh, uh, Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia Lupin."

Her blue eyes widen with recognition. "I thought your surname sounded familiar! Your mum was the one who got imprisoned in Azkaban for nearly four years before she escaped shortly after the death of Isabella Potter! She turned out to be innocent, didn't she?"

His hands clench into fists at the mention of that rather unpleasant reminder. His voice is stiff as he replies, "Yes, she did. She _is_ innocent."

His expression must've changed as well, seeing that she's looking at him with her face pink again. "I shouldn't have brought that up. Sorry."

Her apology is slightly mumbled with shame and embarrassment, but he hears it clearly as his hands unclench. "It's fine. Better than people _still_ looking at my mum with suspicion because they believe she bewitched the entire Wizengamot."

She still looks highly embarrassed so he quickly diverts to a different topic. "So…how many siblings do you have?"

He inwardly face-palms as her face droops with sadness. What is up with this girl?! "There are seven of us. Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, me, and Ginny."

"First girl in the family? That must be exciting."

"Not really. When you have mostly brothers, you kind of just learn to grow up as another boy. I'm not really that special. Bill's the intelligent Curse-Breaker, Charlie's the daring dragon worker, Percy's the studious uptight rule-abider, Fred and George are the pranksters, Ginny's the adorable but fiery baby. And you have me."

That probably explains her gloomy mood. "I'm sure you'll shine somewhere at Hogwarts."

"Maybe. How many siblings do you have?"

"None. Just me."

"You're so lucky."

Tommy shakes his head. "If you knew the things that happened to me, you'd be counting yourself as really lucky."

"What happened?"

"I don't really want to talk about it."

She's quiet for a minute, looking down at her shoes, before saying softly. "Did you know that Isabella Potter was supposed to start Hogwarts today?"

His hands clench again, catching her notice. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't – I didn't – I didn't mean – oh, Merlin – did you know her?"

He doesn't reply, but she gets the answer anyways. "Oh Merlin. I'm so sorry. I keep bringing up the worst possible subjects at this point. Oh Merlin. I'm just going to shut up for the rest of the ride, okay?"

Not seeming to want to look at him, she flops across her entire side of the compartment and rolls over so her back is to him.

Tommy looks at the redheaded girl for a second before sighing and stretching across his side so he's lying down onto his back. Sally's not a bad person, he knows. His mother would probably say that she's just struggling with social and tact issues. Seeing that it's probably hard to be the sixth child out of seven, it probably makes sense.

The more he thinks about it, the more he realizes that perhaps someone who lacks attention is probably someone with a good ear for listening. Perhaps… "Our parents had been best friends since their school days. Naturally, we'd be close too, especially since we were born on the same day. It was an ideal friendship. But then…then James and Lily had been killed by Voldemort" – Sally flinched at the name – "and she had been sent to live with her only living relatives: the _Dursleys_."

A momentary sneer twists upon his face at the name of the Muggles who killed his best friend. "For the next four years, she had no one. Her aunt and uncle hated her to the point where they abused her daily, and her cousin was encouraged to bully her without getting in trouble for it. Meanwhile, I was living alone with my dad because my mum was thought to have sold James and Lily to Voldemort – oh, it's just a name! – so she was sent off to Azkaban without a trial. My dad wasn't allowed to see his own goddaughter at all on Dumbledore's orders so he and her neighbour Mrs Figg came up with the idea of Flooing me over to her house so I could attend St Grogory's Primary School with her and look out for her. It turned out that I only needed one day of that school.

"I found her hiding behind some rubbish bins during interval because she knew it was pointless to make friends as her cousin or her accidental magic would scare the other kids off. But not me. I was persistent. We were friends by the end of interval and went back to class together. We said good-bye and p-promised to meet up the next day right before class started.

"I don't know what happened. I guess her cousin ratted her out to his parents, and they just had to punish her. Unknown to them, I had discovered b-bruises on her arms during class but didn't know what they were. I-I asked my d-dad if it was n-normal for Muggle-raised kids to have c-coloured a-arms like that, and h-he was s-scared."

Tears are threatening his eyes, but he has to hold them back. For now. Get the rest of the story out. "P-Privet Drive r-residents said that they heard her screaming for help in the m-middle of the n-night, but they s-sucked up that s-stupid story about h-her being a nutcase and j-just went back to s-sleep. She w-was d-dead the next d-day."

He sucks in another breath and forces himself to continue. "I-I went to b-both funerals. I-I d-don't remember much of them because I-I was t-too busy crying in g-grief for her. I-I didn't go b-back to that school. I-it was too p-painful. T-too much."

He doesn't realize he's actually crying until he buries his face into his hands and feels his tears soaking them. A squeak from the other side of the compartment sounds before he feels someone sit beside him and put an arm around his shoulders. Turning slight to face her, he lets himself cry against the shoulder.

Her voice is soft but comforting. "She didn't deserve it. None of it."

He nods once and hiccups slightly before drawing away from her. Swiping at his eyes he mutters, "Sorry for getting your shoulder wet."

"It's nothing. Believe me."

He looks at the ginger girl beside him and notices the tears sliding down her cheeks. She looks back at him and says quietly, "Forgive me for being presumptuous, but I don't think she would want you to carry on like this. Six years must've seemed short to you, I know, but a lot of time has passed. I think she would've wanted you to succeed in life and do your best. Grow up, start a family, anything that she should've had but couldn't. Life can be short, you know. Make the best of it. She's watching over you at this moment right now. Just imagine the proud smile she'll have when you graduate from Hogwarts as a fully-fledged wizard with the potential to do anything."

He nods before she can turn pink again. "I sure as hell will try. Will you be there with me? Even if we're not in the same house?"

A smile spreads across her tearstained face. "Always."

A smile forms on his face in return.

* * *

 **AN 2:** For those of you who are curious, Tommy and Sally do not end up together. Like in the parallel universe involving "Her Best Friend" and "Jealous of Her," Tommy marries Sally's younger sister Ginny while Sally marries Ryan Granger (male!Hermione). However, Tommy and Ginny don't have the fraternal twins Remus Neville and Cassiopeia Luna born in 2004 (as Voldemort is dead so Tommy's parents are never killed and therefore don't need the honour of having their grandkids named after them) but instead have one daughter named Isabella Rosalie born in 2006. Coincidentally, the middles names of Sally and Ryan's daughter Rose is not Isabella but Ginevra.

 **AN 3:** Reviews are greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance to those who do!


End file.
